Windows Server 2008 Domain issue.

[larryri42]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, looked through here for my answer, found similar information but not what I am looking for. I am running the latest version of VirtualBox. I have Windows Server 2008 installed as a Bridged connection. From My Host Computer and from other computers on my network I can ping the IP Address of WinServer 2008 and I can ping the computer name as well. When I try to ping the Domain, I get a cannot find host. I even setup the Server in the VB as DHCP to make sure it connects to my home private network. The VB has the same gateway as my physical computers. I have been all day trying to get this issue resolved. Can anyone please help me.

Main Computer:

OS: Windows 7 Professional
Connection: DHCP 192.168.0.X

Virtual Box

OS: Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
Connection: Bridged with DHCP IP address assigned by Router (192.168.0.X) and NAT connection as well (10.0.3.15).

From Host command prompt or from another PC on the networking I can Ping the Bridged Connection But cannot ping the created Domain Controller.

[BillG]

You cannot run a domain controller like that. A domain controller should have a static IP in its own IP subnet and it must be the DNS server for the domain members. (This has nothing to do with VirtualBox. The same applies to running a DC on a physical box on a home network behind a NAT device running DHCP).

As has been said many times in this newsgroup (and elsewhere), the best way to test a domain with virtualization is to run the domain in an internal network in its own IP subnet. How you connect this network to the Internet is up to you.

Running a domain using bridged networking is possible but you need to know what you are doing. For a start you need to disable DHCP on your gateway device and run DHCP on the DC only. You need to configure DHCP to hand out the DC as the DNS server, not your gateway device (but the gateway's IP as DG). Then you need to set the DNS service on the DC to forward to a public DNS service (your ISP or a public server like 4.2.2.2) to resolve foreign URLs for you domain clients. Active Directory will not work using your gateway device to relay DNS requests.

If you go down this path, do not join your host to the domain. You could find yourself in the situation where your host will not log in on bootup because it cannot find a DC!

[larryri42]

Here is a simple diagram of my current setup with the virtual machines/networks running under Hyper-V on Server 2008 R2.

Internet
|
Netgear (static route 192.168.31.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.99)
192.168.0.1
|
LAN machines
192.168.0.x dg 192.168.0.1 (config from Netgear)
|
192.168.0.99 dg 192.168.0.1 --------------------------------
RRAS LAN router |
192.168.31.254 dg blank |
| |
Server 2008 DC virtual network
192.168.31.1 dg 192.168.31.254 |
| |
AD clients |
192.168.31.x (config from DHCP on DC) --------------------------

Thank you for your prompt response.

I think you posted this in a Microsoft blog. If so, I guess this is what I want to do. I actually started with a Static IP on the VM server but that did not work so I kept trying different things. The last thing I did was try it as DHCP. From what your telling me, I cannot have the VM on the same subnet as my physical machines, and this is because for the DC to work properly it needs its own subnet? I created another VM running Win 7 which I will use tomorrow as a client. Thanks again Bill!

[BillG]

Yes, that was one of mine and that is basically how I run a domain with VirtualBox as well. As I said in the previous post it is possible to run a domain in the same network as your home network but it is tricky. Running it in its own network avoids a lot of problems.

[larryri42]

Yes, that was one of mine and that is basically how I run a domain with VirtualBox as well. As I said in the previous post it is possible to run a domain in the same network as your home network but it is tricky. Running it in its own network avoids a lot of problems.

followed your steps from the other site and I was able to get it up and running. Thank you for all your assistance.

[BillG]

Glad to hear that you got it running. The static route on the gateway router is only needed if you run the internal router as a LAN router. If you run it as NAT, NAT looks after that for you. (All traffic from the domain network uses the NAT router's 192.168.0 address on the physical network).

[Atlantiz8]

Guys, I'm new to virtual box and windows domain but too bad i was given an assignment to setup a windows domain with virtual machines connected all in virtual box.

My requirement:
- don't need internet connection
- the group policy of the DC must be applied to the domain computers, and allow a software to be deployed successfully from the DC to the domain members.

Current situation and problem:
-My windows 2008 r2 running in virtual box, with bridged network connection, with following network config:
ipv4 add: 192.168.2.2
DG: 192.168.2.1 (as i have no router/modem, what should i put for DG? )
DNS: 127.0.0.1

-My windows 7 running in virtual box, with bridged connection as well, with network config:
ipv4: 192.168.2.3
DG: 192.168.2.1
DNS: 192.168.2.2

-Group policy can be applied successfully, but the client-server software couldn't be deployed, and i found out windows 7 can ping windows 2008 (ping 192.168.2.2) with reply successfully, but windows 2008 CANNOT PING windows 7 (ping 192.168.2.3) showing destination host unreachable.

I just need a very simple internal connection and domain setup, please advice.

[BillG]

If you do not need a connection to any other network, put the DC and its clients in an internal network. (And if you don't need access to any other network, the default gateway is irrelevant. You can leave it blank.) Give the machines static IP addresses in their own IP subnet. You don't want the domain running on your local network (which is what happens if you use bridged mode).

Ping is not a reliable network test anymore. Many built-in firewalls block it. Either temporarily disable the firewall or set exceptions for ICMP echo to use ping. With a domain there are other ways to check connectivity. The important thing is that all machines are set to use the local DNS ONLY!